So a lot of folks when starting out have a hard time finding a customer base. Here’s 7 tricks I’ve used in the past to shore up my customer base.

1. Post a fantastic show-off of your products with amazing photos
If you’re a part of an online community, create something remarkable and post pictures of it. The key is being remarkable – don’t invest the time in creating a product just like everyone else’s. Being remarkable will set you apart and elevate your work. If you’re just posting photos of how much your product is like everyone else’s, you’re competing with more established sellers and the only place where you can compete with them is price. That’s just a game where you lose in the end.

2. Tell a story & have a sale
My customers used to know that around September, I’d always have sale. Why? That’s when I had to pay my university tuition and I needed to raise funds. So I had a 20% off sale. It helped to give back to my existing customers base but also pulled the attention of people who would hesitate to buy from me for 2 reasons. First, the lower price would help them take the leap and second, there was a connection. They knew something about me, that I wasn’t some automaton and that by buying my products, they were actually HELPING someone. It helps to remind customers that there’s a person that is buying food, going to school or supporting a family with their dollars.

3. Reward customers who spread the word
I would give discounts to customers who would post positive reviews online about my products and service. Why? It helps push people who are happy with your products to tell people that they’re happy. An old adage reads that a happy customer tells 1 person, an unhappy customer tells ten. The happy customer will want to buy from you again, and by rewarding them with a discount in the future, you get them to spread the word about how happy they actually are. It’s not sneaky or underhanded – if these people weren’t happy, they’d tell everyone anyways and certainly not buy from you again. You’re just rewarding loyal customers. And nothing tells others to buy from you like the word of folks who are happy having bought from you. Well, that is other than photos of folks who are happy having bought from you. Which brings me to the next point…

4. Reward customers who send you photos of themselves in your product
Nothing tells the world how great your stuff is and how amazing your service is like someone who has paid their hard earned cash to wear it. It helps if the photos are nice, but that’s not the point. Photos of happy customers aren’t intended to sell the product themselves, but the idea that you too can be happy with this product. So entice customers to send you images of them wearing your product with rewards like discounts. Moreover, in my experience, customers who take pictures of themselves in your product will also post those images in other places – like their Facebook or blog. This sends images of your work to their network and help bring you customers you wouldn’t have even had access to reach.

5. Be generous with your techniques
Posting tutorials on how you make your work in communities that are relevant to your industry elevates you. You become an expert. By being generous with your knowledge, it educates your customers. Sure, people can try to recreate your work, but generally, most will see how skilled you need to be & how much work it takes and as a result simply order from you.

6. Give you product away for free in exchange
The photo at the top of this post of of the amazing Apnea and was taken by Philip Warner of Lithium Picnic Studios. I traded the product she’s wearing (plastic lacing falls) for the shot. When I posted that shot, orders went through the roof. I don’t believe in free because I feel it undermines a business, but I heartily believe in trade. Offering products to reviewers in exchange for photos, unbiased reviews, helpful critiques and so forth can be very worthwhile and draw eyes to your products and gain you customers.

7. Buy carefully selected ads and sponsorships
There’s a lot of folks selling ads in this day in age. If you’ve done all the other tricks and have some money to invest in also building your brand, this is an expense that may be worth it. I’ve bought banner ads from various Goth sites, print ads in a few publications and sponsored some local events. If they price is right,they generally pay themselves back in sales – you just have to know what the price point is for you (my price point is that the ad campaign must pay for itself in one average sized order). It also helps define your brand in the mind of the ad viewer, so they may not buy from you, but if they have some (even subconscious) recognition of your brand in the future, it may be enough to push them to purchase then.

Note: I’ve never bought ads from Google and I will never suggest you do. They end up in the funniest places, and are very poorly targeted for small businesses who sell handmade crafts.

Questions? Comments? I’d love to hear them! Just leave me a comment!

Next Thursday: Auctions – The Who, What, Where and How

Tags: ads, apnea, customers, google, lithium picnic, photos, reviews

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 10:14 am and is filed under selling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.